FOLLOW UP DYNAMICS
Repetition is the law of deep and lasting impression. God is a God of progress. He is here to move us forward. The ultimate goal of follow-up is discipleship.
Matthew 28:19-20 KJV
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [20] Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
We are to teach everyone what has been taught to us. This is the mandate that has been given to all of us.
Every time God teaches us, He expects us to look for someone else we can teach the same thing.
Discipleship is not complete until the person you are following up becomes a true disciple.
There was a time when someone had to follow up on you.
A disciple is one who is following the steps of the Master.
- PRECEPT – what you are teaching. Doctrine.
- INSTRUCTION – what you are telling him to do
You are teaching the person our culture. How we do things. It is through us who are already in the ministry that those who are coming will be cultured.
The new ones learn the culture of our ministry from us.
It is not our culture to be rude to people.
It is not our culture
We have a culture of confessing the word
- OBSERVATION – Example – what you are doing
They must be able to look at you and learn from you.
God has licensed us to spread.
We need to ensure that everyone that God gives us remains with us. God wants them to remain.
John 15:16 KJV
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
We are chosen and ordained to keep them. We must ensure they remain. We must create an environment that makes them comfortable enough to remain.
Discipleship involves three things
- Winning
- Building
- Sending
3 CONDITIONS FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLESHIP
- CONTINUE IN THE WORD
John 8:31 KJV
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed
It must be your tradition to be in the word. You need to learn to be stubborn with God’s word.
- LOVE THE BRETHREN
John 13:35 KJV
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Learn and know how to express love.
When people come in, they must find love.
God has given us something that everyone on earth needs, that is love.
- FRUIT
John 15:8 KJV
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
You cannot tell someone who doesn’t win souls to follow up on souls. If he can’t win them, he can’t keep them.
The success of follow-up is more dependent on the person following up, than on the person being followed up.
God has empowered you to ensure that the person that is committed to your trust is established.
If the souls are not coming, it is not the souls problem, it is our problem. You say “but I have tried” God doesn’t want you to try. He knows that He has empowered you to succeed.
3 VITAL ELEMENTS THAT WILL HELP YOU SUCCEED IN EVERY AREA OF MINISTRY
- KNOWLEDGE
A. Knowledge of God’s word
B. Knowledge of your environment
C. Knowledge of the people you are following up
Your impact depends on how much knowledgeable you are. Knowledge is vital.
- TEMPERANCE
The ability to control your emotions
You are not easily angered
Train yourself not to be discouraged by anything
It’s not everything that you see that you say. You must be able to hold yourself back.
- RELATIONSHIP
You cannot lift someone you have not touched.
The impact you have in someone’s life is according to the relationship you have with the person.
You must be more interested in the people than in the number
You should be caring enough to find out why they didn’t come.
When you get to love people the way God loves you, it will be very easy for you to retain them
Relationships helps to find out our primary points of motivation. You know the kind of thing that inspires them.
Someone should come in contact with you and desire to be with you again
There is a way you can present yourself that the person will always want to be with you
Luke 10:5-6 KJV
And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. [6] And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
WHY SOME PEOPLE DON’T COME TO CHURCH
1. FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
Sometimes do you know that some members don’t have money to come to church?
And there are two ways to help that person, firstly you give that person what he wants now, you cannot give him what he needs for life in monetary terms. Give him the money to come to church and hear what will put money in his pockets for all time, because the word of God would change his position.
Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
2. SOMETIMES IT IS SICKNESS;
You might find that a brother or sister didn’t come to church because he is sick or their child is sick. Are you aware that even though we preach divine health and minister healing, do you know we still have some of our members who get sick?
James 5:13-15
What do we do for them? We visit them, let’s not isolate our brethren, that visitation is better than medicine, the very fact that you came will bring healing. I told you about Jesus healing the mother in-law of Peter, he didn’t pray for her, the bible says he just touched her hands and she was well, I believe just looking at Jesus changed it for that woman, and you are like Jesus, you move with the presence of Jesus, the blessings of Jesus, you are not an ordinary person; when you show up the answer has arrived. Make it your ministry to see to it that you’ll ask about your members who were at service or not, and find out why they didn’t come. Go there and encourage the discouraged, strengthen the disheartened, that’s ministry.
3. SOMETIMES IT’S PERSECUTION FROM HOME;
Maybe the wife doesn’t want her husband to go to certain church or the other way round, or maybe the children are being troubled for coming, or the children are troubling their parents for coming, maybe some of them even have persecution at work. Persecution can come from any area but we have to know, because if we don’t know we can’t help them, you must go out, you must reach out and go and visit. People don’t go to visit people like before anymore, everyone keeps to himself because Jesus says “in the last days because iniquities shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”, but that should not be fulfilled in our lives, reach out to help. There are so many ways you can reach that person, you can WhatsApp, email or use the telephone, there are so many ways open to you. You must do everything you can until you get across to that person because you have a solution, you encourage him or her, and you must preach the word because the word has power. You can also pray an intercessory prayer for that person and you’ll pray until there is a change, you pray as though you are the one being persecuted. Many Christians are not praying today because they
are not being taught to pray.
4. DISCOURAGEMENT AND FAILED EXPECTATIONS
This is another reason why some people don’t come to church. They’ll tell you that they prayed and God did not answer their
prayer and that’s why they have shut the doors on God, or failed expectations; he thought he had become perfect and then two weeks later he sinned again and
now he has given up the fight. Maybe they were looking up to someone that they thought was perfect and things didn’t turn out right and now they are
discouraged. We intercede for these ones and after interceding, we go to them and teach them the word, they need to be
taught, they need to know that they have to grow, that God does not exist for them; they exist for God, God is not alive to answer their prayers, they are alive to do
Gods bidding. You have no right to accuse another man’s servant, that brother or sister is living for Jesus and not for you.
5. EMERGENCIES, SUDDEN RESPONSIBILITIES
Maybe a loved one got sick and they are charged with the responsibility to take care of that one, maybe a woman’s husband got sick and she has to stay back and help him, maybe a cousin has a problem, maybe there was an accident. There are sudden responsibilities because of some crises in the family and someone may not come to church.
What do we do? We visit the person, when you find out that they didn’t come to church because of one emergency or the other. You find out that most of what you have to do is to visit them. Visitation means a lot, especially when you visit without charge, be a visitor that doesn’t cost your host anything. When you are given an opportunity to ask for something ask for what won’t cost the host.
6. TRAVEL PLANS;
They travel during the days that
services are scheduled without considering it and even if they considered maybe it was unavoidable, so they didn’t come to church. Also you pray for that person, when you know that he or she has travelled, write the name down and when you pray, pray for him. Pray about his journey, in Christianity we are supposed to have a love network, the kind of network that assures our security and safety in God, but this works through our prayer network. When you want to travel you have to tell your leader or your pastor.
And as you pray the spirit will even reveal things to you, the more you pray, the more friendly you become with the Holy Ghost and He will begin to bring you up in certain spiritual gifts and operations of the Holy Ghost, you begin to see with the spiritual eyes.
7. NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
The times that we find ourselves being influenced by the wrong people, maybe by outsiders, maybe someone is criticizing the church and then this brother because of the criticism begins to hide from that church because he’s been influenced by the wrong folks. You must intercede for that one; you must visit him and bring him your own influence, use good to overcome evil because you are from the kingdom of good, you must overcome evil. Your influence will be greater than negative influences. Some accept an appointment with a non-Christian on a Sunday morning, if you do that, it’s just a proof that you are not serious with your faith. Hebrews 10:25
8. OFFENCES;
The bible says “a brother that is offended is harder to be won than a strong city”. Something has happened and he is offended so he is not coming to church, these are the generations of Judas Iscariot. The bible says that “Judas Iscariot was offended at Jesus”, for someone to be offended at Jesus, the maker of the whole world, what could Jesus have done for someone to be offended by Jesus? But Judas was (Matthew 26:6-16; John 12:4-8). Money is the reason many are offended, many have lost their souls to money, deliver your soul. The first thing you should be willing to give out is money and when you do, distant yourself from it so that you will not lose your soul to money.
Don’t join those who complain about money because there’s so much you don’t know about, leaders, anytime we talk about money be first to give, train yourself that way. If there’s a lot of demand for money in the house of God, better for you because there’s a promise of blessing otherwise God will raise
up a government that will demand money from you, and there’s no promise for that. When the people of God act according to God’s word, he begin to bless them such that they become so big that they grow beyond inflation and the economy, but when God’s people continue to remain tight fisted with money, He begins to open up doors that will cause them to lose, they’ll now be in pursuit of money never being able to catch it; always in need and the government keep collecting from them. The message that I bring to you it’s your ladder to the top, it’ll take you above the float, and it’ll help you. Giving to God is never too much because He is your source, it is a spiritual thing.
CONFIDENCE IN YOUR MINISTRY
Matthew 5:14 KJV
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
You are here to make life brighter and better for them.
God knows you are going to light up their lives.
God has equipped you with all that you need to make a success of your calling
You cannot be hidden. Don’t try to hide yourself. Be confident and bold.
You are a solution to them.
Ephesians 2:10 KJV
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God created you to do good works. To transform the lives of people.
Because you’re His workmanship, God already has confidence in you. He has certified you to be able to do all that He expects you to do.
If God looked at you and thought you were inferior to what He wanted you wouldn’t have come. Because no good manufacturer would test a product and find that it is not up to standard and still puts it on the market. He is destroying His name.
God saw you fit enough to put you on the job. The only way you get to fail is when you make yourself fail, otherwise you can’t fail.
Every soul that comes into your hands is a soul that is established. Be known for that. Let your Pastor know you for results.
The one that was given to you is the one that He needs.
Ezekiel 18:4 KJV
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
We are the ones who have been raised to manage His souls
2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: [17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
The Scripture empowers you, matures you, and equips you
As long as you have the word of God, you have all that it takes to minister to souls.
